Good old Call Duck thread

[StormsnSaugeye]

Well it's 8am and I'm most unfortunately awake.
Unfortunately because of some bad food from a few days ago that's kept me up most of the night.
No change on the first egg to internally pip. I did widen the safety hole a touch and did a brief check. It's still chewing and yawning, and the veins are still a bright red. So partial covering with a bit of a moist towel, a little bactirin and back into the incubator it goes. number of the others are showing increased activity but no external pipping. Though boy are they getting vocal. At this stage of the process, I'm gonna let them continue on for a bit and just do a quick through the window peek on occasion. I've read that it can be common for Calls to internally pip, but their little necks can prevent them from externally pipping. I'll check them for peeping around noon to hear what they're up to. If the most vocal ones start sounding weak, I'll give them a hole, but I'd rather not.
Side note: Have contacted the original seller just to touch base and request further information. Was forwarded attached image as an indication of what other lineage the eggs were pulled from.
Due to inexperience, I leave to the community to decide. I believe that drilling a safety hole may have forestalled the usual external pip of the smallest (Provisionally named Akizuki as a nod to a friends suggestion) as there is at least one reference from other sites that the build up of CO2 in the air cell facilitates the external pip. Will use similar sized egg that internally pipped 6 hours later as the reference.
Included is another reference image.

 

[StormsnSaugeye]

Well I have an update.
Around 10 am I noticed the one in the back was chattering up a storm.
a pattern I'm seeing on a few of my eggs is that when the air cell hole is opened slightly, I notice that they seem to wanna strike at the shell but can't quite reach it. It looks as though the head is under the wing. But I suspect that their bills might be a little too small for the job.
So I'll continue periodic checks throughout the day and if there is still no signs of hatching progress it looks as though I'll be in for a rough round of assisted hatching.
This one (Number 12 out of 14) is the most talkative one of the group. I think I'll name it Naka (In keeping with the Japanese Destroyer, cruiser, and carrier naming convention I've adopted) due to it constantly trying to be the center of attention even in shell.

Anyways, with that, I move slightly closer to a full assist. I'm keeping the cell open just enough to dampen and check the veins. Plus mouth movements. That one in the back freaking talks up a storm though. Just chatter chatter chatter. Ever since he pipped internally, he's been the source of most of the noise in my incubator.

 

[Pyxis]

Sounds like you're doing well

Just a quick note though, it looks like in your previous post you sad you were covering the egg with a damp paper towel. I wouldn't do that; that can cause the duckling inside to become chilled, so if you still have that on the egg I would remove it.

 

[StormsnSaugeye]

Alright will do. I put it on there so that it would dry in place and prevent some humidity loss. To me it seemed like a good long run idea with a short term evaporation drawback.
They're removed. Thanks for the advice.
I'll do a 2 O'clock update on their progress.

 

[chickens really]

Adding damp towels has the opposite effect. It actually draws out the moisture in the eggs rather than add to it.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Best case scenario you wouldn't have to assist at all. . but my experience so far has been to have a lot of them die in the shell before they ever get a chance to externally pip.

Don't be afraid to tackle it if the time comes your sure no more progress is going to happen on its own. It's not as scary as it seems once you get in there and understand where everything is. Just go slow and don't do too much at once. Once all the veins have receded and you have the membrane peeled back where they can just push themselves out when they are ready it's smooth sailing. Just remember Assisting doesn't mean rushing them, they will peep up a storm when they are good and ready to get out if they are stuck.

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

I have hatched a few calls (like, 8 total) and have done a bit of assisting on each. Mine are just regular, not very show quality babies...I didn't do a safety hole but did chip off the shell and membrane after external pip (which took 12-24 hrs after internal). Then if no progress after 24 hrs of ext pip, I removed some more shell from the air cell and put coconut oil on the internal membrane. I checked for chewing and yawning as a guide for readiness. The most I had to do was take off the whole air cell end (simulating the zip)...which I did if there was no progress after 24 hrs after ext pip - but I left the internal membrane alone. I did that on 2..After that they pushed out on their own. The others zipped and hatched on their own.

 

[StormsnSaugeye]

Something of a 2pm update. Nothing. No progress in terms of hatching. Just a bunch of clicking chewing and yawning. Which is fine. I'm content to let them all hang out and mature. Got nothing but time.
All 4 with some progress has red red veins. So they're not ready to come out. But they aren't quitters yet so that's good enough for now.

 

[StormsnSaugeye]

These two show veins still. However I'm kind of iffy about this one:

It looks closer to being ready for closer observation and potentially being done soon, but I'd like a second opinion.
Not the best images, but I wanted them to be observed in situ. They've all had their chorio-allantoic membrane treated with bacitracin.

I've got no intention of sticking my hand in any time soon. Though I am curious is this is sufficient data to begin estimating when the one with the greatest vein reduction might begin trying to make its hatching attempt.
For the record, it internally pipped 16 July by about 6am. By 9pm, it began sounding weaker, so I drilled a safety hole. At around 5am, I opened the air cell a little further, and have done nothing since. This picture was taken at 3:30pm EDT. Temperature 98.7-99.5 and humidity varying between 67 and 72.

So, any ball park numbers?

 

[WVduckchick]

View attachment 1471633 View attachment 1471632
These two show veins still. However I'm kind of iffy about this one:
View attachment 1471631
It looks closer to being ready for closer observation and potentially being done soon, but I'd like a second opinion.
Not the best images, but I wanted them to be observed in situ. They've all had their chorio-allantoic membrane treated with bacitracin.

I've got no intention of sticking my hand in any time soon. Though I am curious is this is sufficient data to begin estimating when the one with the greatest vein reduction might begin trying to make its hatching attempt.
For the record, it internally pipped 16 July by about 6am. By 9pm, it began sounding weaker, so I drilled a safety hole. At around 5am, I opened the air cell a little further, and have done nothing since. This picture was taken at 3:30pm EDT. Temperature 98.7-99.5 and humidity varying between 67 and 72.

So, any ball park numbers?

All looking really good to me. Blood vessels are receding and mostly very small.

Since you have broken part of the shell away, they likely won't be able to complete a zip without further help. So eventually (no rush) you will need to remove the majority of the fat end of the shell, and open the membrane wide enough for them to push the rest of the way out. You can wait until they get a little more squirmy on their own.

Ball park? I'd would expect they would be ready to proceed a bit further by this evening, very likely hatch by midnight.